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Ghost Canyon

Title - Sweet Lucy, Don�t Ask My Neighbours, �Til Tomo
Artist - Raul De Souza

For those unaware, encouraged by his friend percussionist Airto Moreira and his wife, singer Flora Purim, Raul de Souza left Brazil for the USA in the early 70s. In 1976, he contributed to an album by a US-based Latin fusion group called Caldera, which was released on Capitol Records and put him in the orbit of its executive producer Larkin Arnold.

For Raul�s debut LP, �Sweet Lucy�, Arnold paired him with the capable George Duke, a jazz musician with a deep appreciation of Brazilian music who was just beginning to branch out as a record producer. Raul also worked with George Duke in 1978 on the follow-up album, �Don�t Ask My Neighbors�, although Duke is credited under the alias Dawilli Gonga.

George Duke vacated the producer�s chair for the third Capitol Album �Til Tomorrow Comes� to be replaced by Arthur G. Wright, a prolific guitarist, songwriter, arranger and producer from Los Angeles whose credits ranged from Diana Ross to Linda Ronstadt.

He surrounded Raul with some of LA�s best session musicians including keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, saxophonist Ernie Fields, guitarist David T. Walker and drummers Ed Greene and James Gadson � and concocted a different musical backdrop for the trombonist; one that tapped more heavily into disco and R&B rather than jazz.

Releasing on January 13th, 2022 via Robinsongs / Cherry Red Records (UK), those three late 70s Capitol Albums by Raul de Souza: �Sweet Lucy� (1977), �Don�t Ask My Neighbors� (1978) and �Til Tomorrow Comes� (1979), are now all available in a double CD package, with additional bonus tracks.

CD 1: Sweet Lucy & Don�t Ask My Neighbors
1. Sweet Lucy
2. Wires
3. Wild And Shy
4. At Will
5. Banana Tree
6. A Song Of Love
7. New Love (Cancao Do Nosso Amori)
8. Bottom Heat
9. Don�t Ask My Neighbors
10. La La Song
11. Daisy Mae
12. Beauty And The Beast
13. Fortune
14. Overture
15. At The Concert
16. I Believe You

Unquestionably a giant of Brazilian music, whose mastery of the trombone placed him in the instrument�s elite, Raul de Souza is one of the mysteries of the jazz world. In the 1970s, it was obvious that the Brazilian trombonist had a lot going for him: a distinctive and appealing tone, major chops, versatility, and a lot of soul and warmth. So why did he mysteriously fade into such obscurity in the 1980s?

In an ideal world, de Souza would have built a huge catalogue, but regrettably, his recording career was short-lived. Produced by George Duke, 1977�s Sweet Lucy is chock full of vocal-oriented funk jams like Wires and the title song (both written by Duke).

Both are catchy, but the fusion and pop-jazz instrumentals are where de Souza really shines, like when he stretches out on Bottom Heat, Wild and Shy, and other such notable pieces that he composed himself; and which all come together to showcase exactly what de Souza had to be a soloist.

On the next album, Don�t Ask My Neighbors, in truth, Duke sometimes overproduces, and a few of the tracks are weak, perhaps none more so than de Souza�s disappointing versions of major R&B hits of the late 70s.

For instead of really interpreting the Emotions� titular Don�t Ask My Neighbors, de Souza instead provides a veritable note-for-note cover and turns the song into elevator muzak, in my humble opinion.

Michael Henderson�s At the Concert, which is marred by robotic female background vocalists who insist on singing the chorus instead of getting out of the way and allowing de Souza�s trombone to be dominant, also suffers much the same fate.

However, and even with all that said, de Souza�s interpretation of Dorothy Moore�s I Believe You is more than decent, and he really lets loose on Wayne Shorter�s Beauty and the Beast, as well as jazz-funk smokers that include Duke�s Daisy Mae and his own Jump Street (which mysteriously finds its lonesome way to the second disc here in this package).

CD 2: Don�t Ask My Neighbours (Continued) & �Til Tomorrow Comes & Bonus Tracks
1. Jump Street
2. Raul de Souza & Arthur Wright � �Til Tomorrow Comes
3. Only When You Can
4. Fe-No-Me-Nol
5. Pleasurize
6. Up And At It
7. Everybody�s Got To Dance To The Music
8. Self Sealing
9. Boogie Shoes
10. Sweet Lucy � Single Version [Bonus Track]
11. Daisy Mae � Single Version [Bonus Track]
12. Raul De Souza & Arthur Wright � �Til Tomorrow Comes � Single Version [Bonus Track]

With his third Capitol album, �Til Tomorrow Comes, de Souza decided to switch producers and hooked up with Arthur Wright instead of George Duke. While Duke saw de Souza as a fusion/pop-jazz type of artist, Wright had very different ideas - he wanted the Brazilian trombonist to jump on the disco bandwagon.

As a result, this 1979 LP doesn�t sound anything at all like de Souza�s previous Capitol releases, for �Til Tomorrow Comes is pure disco, and it has absolutely nothing to do with jazz.

Thus, this record must be judged by disco standards, not pop-jazz standards, not fusion standards, not Brazilian jazz standards, and certainly not straight-ahead bop standards. Applying disco standards, one has to say that �Til Tomorrow Comes is competent, but unremarkable (and I only say that as the charts were being dominated at that time by acts such as Chic, Gloria Gaynor, the Village People, Sister Sledge, and Donna Summer, et al).

With sleeve notes by MOJO and Record Collector journalist Charles Waring. Born Jo�o Jos� Pereira de Souza in Rio de Janeiro on 23 August 1934, Raul de Souza played with the legendary Brazilian composer and bandleader Pixinguinha at the age of 17 in 1951 and, a year later, performed with Agostinho dos Santos, a popular singer who later had a role in the burgeoning bossa nova movement of the late 1950s.

Official Purchase Link

www.cherryred.co.uk





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